What Fates Impose
by EuphoniumGurl0
Summary: The Hermione that Severus knew from his past is now back in his life. She's determined to solve the puzzle of who sent her back to the past, and he's determined to get the answers he never got. Sequel to the Library but can be read as stand-alone. Redo!
1. Needlessly Selfless

Author's Note: Updated 7 February 2010

Hey. It's been… almost two years since I've touched this story, but I'm ready to finish it and the series now. Not going to massively overhaul the existing chapters. They're not horrible. Just going to keep going. For anyone who hasn't previously read this story, it's part three in a four part HG/SS series. You can read this without reading the others. Its plot-line stands alone. Here's a recap of what's happened so far:

Snape was surprised when a 'transfer' student arrived at Hogwarts, and even more surprised when she was so eager to get to know him. Slowly, a relationship develops, although he has no idea that this is Hermione Granger from the future. By the time he understands who she is and where she's from, he's already taken the Dark Mark, much to the chagrin of his best friend, Bade Hudson. Even though he's angry that she never told him the full truth, he sends a spell at her during a battle at Hogwarts to send her back to her home. And when she's gone, he talks to Dumbledore about becoming a spy.

This story takes place roughly three years after the final battle, with some alterations to the final book. Dumbledore is the only major loss. Ron and Hermione are not together.

Finally, there is mature content in this so be advised of that.

Chapter 1: Needlessly Selfless

Ten minutes. Just ten minutes, and the love of his life would be literally popping up out of nowhere, falling in a crumpled heap because of battle wounds she sustained right before he sent her back. Ten minutes. Ten minutes was a long time to wait, and he was a very impatient man. He had waited for years to be able to see her again, and oh, how the years had made him bitter. As a young and naïve boy, he waited for her every day, not knowing if he would see her again. Now, he wondered if he would callously push her away, sneering at the look of affection that would undoubtedly be present in her coffee eyes. It would be only seconds for her, but it had been years for him- cold, merciless years. He wondered whether he still loved her or if he had forgotten how to love long ago. The answer came to him as the clock ticked again. Ten minutes. In ten minutes, she would be the amazing, brave, powerful woman that had survived the past and conquered the future, ripping out his heart and carrying it with her.

He'd been impassive on the outside for the last few months, watching as she celebrated the defeat of the Dark Lord, having only suffered one truly traumatic loss. He watched her cling to Weasley for everything as she started a normal life- a job at the ministry after studying frantically for the N.E.W.T. examinations and passing as if she had not taken the year off. He watched her as she talked to Minerva who had letters to her from Dumbledore (he immediately had known why). He watched, sulking in corners, waiting for the event that would send her back.

It was the uncertainty that killed him. When Dumbledore was alive, he hadn't trusted him with any specific details, obviously afraid that he would warn the young witch or try to stop her from being thrown back so many years into the past. But Severus was not stupid. He knew that any alteration in the time line would create a loop. He knew that the Ministry (which was in the capable hands of Kingsley Shacklebolt now) had rules and regulations on time travel for a reason. The Department of Mysteries personnel had even helped to create said rules. That said how extremely serious they were.

There was no convincing the exasperating, white-haired wizard of that, though. He kept the details to himself, only giving Severus an approximate time line. Severus had been waiting for two years now, trying to use the time wisely so that he could figure out what he would do once it actually occurred. His immediate reaction was obvious. He would help Poppy tend to her wounds and explain the situation in the least amount of details possible. He would leave out any hints as to his relationship with Miss Granger, hinting at a friendship at most. Then, he would leave the room so that she could have privacy with the other two thirds of the golden trio, Longbottom, the rest of the Weasleys, Lupin, and Hudson.

That had been his immediate plan of action since Dumbledore had informed him that he would see a familiar name on the role-call list almost eight years ago. After that, he didn't know what he would do. Though he had not admitted this to anyone (albeit Hudson whom he had given enough thoughts to "connect the dots," as muggles said), Severus was scared. He was angry and bitter and the epitome of everything everyone thought he was, but he was also scared. Long accustomed to life not being as simple as he hoped it would be, Severus knew that this was difficult even for an intelligent, quick-witted man.

He was not seventeen anymore; he didn't know how to love anymore. He didn't know how to treat people. He didn't know if he _wanted _to know. He did not know the answers to the questions that woke him up even after the immediate threat of Voldemort was gone.

Severus had foolishly and blindly imagined that once Voldemort was gone, the order of things would be restored. He didn't exactly know what to expect (since he had always lived with the threat of the Dark Lord), but he was not expecting the war to continue on. He had expected things to be easier, simpler even, but there were still disgruntled Death Eaters who had not been captured yet, banding together to find a new Lord. While the Wizarding world was recovering, and the threat was far lesser, it was a threat nonetheless, and he hated that future generations were still being brought into chaos. It shamed him to admit that he hoped he would have a family himself some day.

Now, about a year after the defeat of Tom Riddle, he had been pacing his office when he realized that it had to be soon; it had to be _now_! Dumbledore had said she would be sent back through a spell or a charm, and he was not sure if foul play was involved. Well, Malfoy and Granger were demonstrating a new tracking spell that they had been working on for the past four months. They were so confident in their work that they were showing it to the Minister himself. Now. Yes, it had to be now.

And then, he got an owl from Minerva. There was an emergency Order meeting, and everyone only had minutes to spare before getting there. He _knew _the second that he got the owl. Minerva had quickly briefed them all on the situation, leaving out delicate details that she did not, herself, know. She had looked to Severus for input, but he stayed silent next to her, not even bothering to make eye contact to glare at the occupants of the room. He was tempted by Lupin who kept giving him meaningful glances and Hudson who was sharply nudging him. He seemed to be the only one in the room who found the situation funny enough to be smiling fervently.

Snape cursed the day that the Order had inducted him. Now, with only eight minutes left, Kingsley rushed into the room just like Hudson had predicted he would. He was out of breath, his wand drawn as he looked around the room in a panic. His eyes found Minerva's, and he opened his mouth to say something before Minerva cut him off and beckoned him to take a seat. She calmly explained what was going on in the least amount of words possible. Shacklebolt looked far less curious afterwards, Potter and Ronald Weasley absolutely fuming, and Molly Weasley chewing on her lip. Hudson just looked smug with himself, bobbing his head side to side with the ticking of the grandfather clock.

At least someone seemed to be enjoying themselves. He lifted his gaze from the worn table in front of him just long enough to glare at Hudson who had taken the role of twinkling his eyes as if he was Dumbledore himself.

"Severus?" Hudson asked, not bothering to filter out the amusement in his voice or the sheer delight he got out of the situation. The man was easily entertained, and that fact was only made worse by his naturally manipulative nature.

Snape grunted in response, hating how the man he had come to respect had taken the day off to be replaced with the seventeen year old schoolboy he had been thoroughly annoyed with.

"Five minutes," said Bade, his Weasley-like hair almost glowing in anticipation with the rest of his body.

Yes, Severus had acted calm and composed, but he was struggling with himself internally as if he was part of a generic romance novel. Oh woe was him! The drama! The angst! How would he possibly survive? An evil sneer spread itself over his thin lips, his greasy, black hair falling over his eyes as he let his chin drop. His eyes were now focused on the table in front of him again, and he wondered if he there was any fire whiskey in the house that he could quickly summon. Probably not. Bloody Potter was a saint.

"So, she knew at least, right?" Ronald Weasley reiterated for the _n_-th time since the meeting had started.

Severus felt the overwhelming urge to throttle the boy or at least send a dozen silencers his way. It seemed that he was not alone in his frustration as Potter groaned loudly.

"Yes, Mr. Weasley," Minerva answered in a clipped tone. She was obviously also annoyed.

The room filled with an uneasy silence again, and Severus wondered if he had effectively cast the spell he sent hurdling at her so many years ago. It was one from a thick book of ancient, dark magic that he had received on his seventeenth birthday from his grandmother. The tome was filled with magic of need, half of the things in it banned then, and almost all of them banned now. He had memorized everything in the book once he had pieced together that Hermione was from the future and did not belong in that time period. He had been trying to find a way to send her back before she died. The opportunity presented itself in the battle when she was so willing to sacrifice herself for everyone around her. The spell's purpose was to make the needlessly selfless more selfish and transport them to a place where they would be of actual use- their home, in essence. He had not known the full translation of the spell when he had cast it, but he thanked the Gods who were watching over him for making the spell work.

He chanced a glance at the obnoxiously placed grandfather clock. It was now 8:39P.M., and Minerva said that Hermione would be coming at approximately 8:42P.M. Of course, if that was an approximation and not the exact, calculated time, she would have rounded the number off and not left it at a glaringly exact time. The more that Severus tried not to think about the fact that _she_ would be coming back into his life, the more her face floated in front of this other thoughts. The calming ten minutes he had were now reduced to mocking three minutes.

His heart beat more quickly. He felt panicked. He still had no idea how to react to her. If she wanted to put her arms around him, would he allow her to? Would he return her embrace? What if she tried to kiss him? What if she told him she loved him?

Would she even want him if he wanted her? While Severus was never handsome, he had at least been fit and young before. Now, his sallow skin was paler than ever (though it did look better now that his spying activities were done), and his stomach was no longer taut nor were his arms strong from the constant dueling he did in his younger days. He couldn't remember the last time he left his hole of a home since the school year ended let alone the last time he exercised (unless brooding was being counted now).

The half-blood prince moved his hands from the arm rests of the chair to the table. The simple rustle of robes caused half the room to jump, not expecting a break in the silence yet. They all looked at him for a second, some smiling before dropping their own gazes again. One long finger on his right hand extended and tapped the surface of the table, a bad habit he only possessed in extreme nervousness. He tapped for a few seconds before he felt a hand on his shoulder. He didn't have to look to know that it was Bade's, but he did anyway.

"'What fates impose, that men must need abide; it bodes not to resist both wind and tide,'" whispered Bade, the glimmer still not absent from his eye. This time, however, it was good-natured.

"'Fate is for those too weak to determine their own destiny,'" countered Severus, a sour taste in his mouth.

Bade did not seem phased by Severus' response. In fact, he seemed to have expected it. As Snape's mouth closed, Bade's opened again. "'Destiny is not a matter of chance; it is a matter of choice. It is not a thing to be waited for; it is a thing to be achieved.'"

"'Character is destiny.'"

"And yours is the greatest," Hudson said, using the quote's opening to give his shoulder a squeeze and plaster on a supportive smile. "You've become an articulate, intelligent, quick-witted, cocky bastard, Snape, and I'll be damned before I let you think otherwise. We all know it; _she _knows it. What happens next is up to you."

Severus cringed inwardly at the compliment whispered by his best mate but said nothing. There was a loud thump as a cloaked figure appeared near the fireplace looking around anxiously for a few seconds, her eyes wide as she collapsed on the ground. He heard a few sharp intakes of breath but no sobs. And then her voice cut clearly through the commotion of moving witches and wizards, and everything stilled.

"Severus."


	2. Physical Wounds

Author's Note: This is also an old chapter. Glad to see someone's still interested.

Chapter 2: Physical Wounds

He could feel the silence of the room as it inevitably meant that almost every eye in the small space was on him. The exceptions were Remus who was on his knees next to Hermione performing basic healing spells that Poppy was obviously too shocked to cast herself and Hudson who had somehow managed to elude the silence to give Severus a small nudge before rushing over to her in a flurry of robes. Everyone else was staring at him, some, like Shacklebolt and Arthur Weasley, out of curiosity, wondering why exactly the girl would call out his name when she was in sure dire need, and others, like Potter and the younger Weasleys, in absolute shock, disbelief, doubt, and even some disgust.

He shared those feelings for a split second, wondering if he should follow Lupin's and Hudson's lead and go to her or if he should flee the room. He wasn't ready to see her again, but he knew that he probably never would be. He also knew that he couldn't leave the room in peace. The Order members' stares kept him glued to the spot he was standing (he couldn't remember how or when he had stood up from his spot next to McGonagall). The only direction that he could travel was towards her.

And then, there she was, writhing on the floor in pain even as Lupin was hurriedly casting healing spells. He knew that her pain was beyond physical wounds and battle scars she would live with forever. Being thrown back dozens of years in the past, being forced to stay there, and then being the target of a raid would addle anyone's brain. And he _knew_ that she had been the target of the raid. Voldemort wanted her, and what Voldemort wanted, Voldemort got. She probably had up to three or four wizards on her at once. How she survived was a mystery to him. The fact that she was able to speak was true testament to her strength, to her _character_.

The split second's hesitation passed, and any doubts he had were gone. His body took over, and he moved to her in such lightning speed that the high, throne-like chair that had been leaning against his knees was thrown back against the wall. The chair's impact shook the entire room, and a portrait fell to the floor. The wizard inside it let out a few, choice curse words, rubbing his bum, but Severus didn't care. He was already at Hermione's side, feeling absolutely helpless at the sight that awaited him.

Her bushy, brown hair was sticking to her forehead, matted with blood and dirt. She had a long cut running down from her lower right cheek to the top of her throat. There, she had a cut that across her throat as if she had been slit by a muggle knife. He saw the tell-tale signs of magical manipulation as the cuts were slowly starting to heal themselves, and he cringed internally, wondering how bad they looked before Lupin had done anything, wondering how many other cuts and bruises she had that were now completely healed.

Her muggle t-shirt was sticking to her body because of sweat, but he also noticed that there were spots on her stomach where she was bleeding. Severus quickly removed his robes, and tossed them to a miscellaneous place. He didn't care if they landed in the fire place as long as they were out of his way. His long, skilled fingers, usually reserved for potions' ingredients were now at the top of her muggle jeans and moving her shirt up carefully. He saw lacerations everywhere, and he got out his wand to heal them. Lupin was busy with the cuts on her face and throat, and Hudson was doing complex magic to heal her head.

His callous fingers ran over her smooth abdomen. He massaged her stomach and chest with his left hand while healing with his right. Her torso and back were littered with cuts from what he could tell. He worked quickly, praising the Gods that seemed to be watching over him once again as he felt Minerva and Poppy get on their knees next to her. Poppy quickly unbuttoned her jeans, and Minerva vanished them. They hurriedly began to work on her lower body while he continued to work his way upwards.

Severus kept her shirt just below her breasts, but his hands felt upwards, knowing that some of her worst injuries would be just above them. He cast a warming charm on her as she began to shiver. She was completely drenched in sweat, and it was a lot cooler in this old house with its breezes than it was outside. He looked back at her face, and he noticed that Lupin and Hudson seemed to be done. He didn't spare a glance at Minerva and Poppy.

He looked behind his shoulder quickly, ignoring the commotion of the room and grabbing the robe and cloak he had discarded just minutes ago. He let the thick, black robe fall over her body as he vanished her clothes completely. He saw her eyes open; they were filled with a fight, with passion, with _trust_. She trusted him. That's all he needed to know as he put one of his arms under her shoulders and the other under her knees. He made sure that the material of his robe was covering her body completely before he scooped her up bridal style.

Potter and Ronald Weasley were by his side, looking concerned as words of relief flooded out of their mouths. They tried to get directly to her, and Weasley even had the nerve to start questioning him, but Lupin and Hudson warded them off, silencing them.

"Thank you," she said, ignoring the other occupants of the room and staring straight into his eyes.

In a moment of weakness, the breath he had been holding in was let out in the form of a relieved sigh. He only acknowledged her words with a small nod, but he did not stop her when she clutched his right arm with both of her hands and nuzzled his chin with the top of her head. He didn't care about the blood that was still not cleaned up or that she was dirtying his expensive, black dress shirt. He felt her warmth radiate through the fabrics between them and was content with the way he could feel her breasts rising and falling against his chest as her breathing started to slow.

He noticed a silent question hanging in the air as all talking stopped once again. Curiosity was present in almost everyone's eyes, but her best friends seemed to feel rage at her intimate display of affection and trust. He ignored everything and turned to the nurse.

"There is a direct floo connection to my house in Spinner's end from here. Go there now. Adjacent to my living room is a potions' lab. Go straight to the other side of that room, and there is a storage room. Retrieve blood replenishing potions, mental health potions, potions for concussions, extreme trauma, pepper-ups, anything and everything that may or may not be useful."

She stood, staring for a second before nodding and striding quickly to the fire place. She grabbed a hand full of powder and threw it in the fireplace, disappearing in the customary flames that were associated with floo-ing. Severus looked around the room for a second before his eyes met Molly Weasley's.

"Molly, I have cast a sleeping spell on her, but she will undoubtedly be hungry when she wakes up. Can I entrust you with making a suitable meal that will replenish her energy?"

"Of course, Severus," she nodded fondly at the man, a weak smile gracing her face as she started towards the door.

"Harry, dear, would you come help?" Molly asked, not really needing the help but knowing that Potter would drive himself insane if he didn't do something. The boy liked to do manual labor to get his mind off things.

Potter said nothing, his eyes meeting Snape's in a silent exchange of words, telling him to take good care of her, before disappearing through the door with Molly.

Next, Severus looked towards Arthur Weasley and Kingsley Shacklebolt, nodding towards them. They knew he wanted them to go to the Ministry without saying anything. They walked into the hallway silently, and he heard the front door close behind them as they disapparated on the front step. He thanked Merlin that he had the wits to undo all the protections on Grimmauld Place and put them back up from scratch with the help of the Order. It was now secure as Potter was the new secret keeper.

It was now Minerva's turn to make her presence known as she was now the new head of the Order of the Phoenix. "All of you, make yourselves useful! I don't care what you do, but stay out of Severus' way!" She bellowed, and everyone scattered except for Hudson and Lupin.

Severus nodded towards them as he left the meeting room and took her upstairs to her room. He kicked the door open, and its hinges almost fell off. He set her on the bed carefully, turning around and warding the door.

Turning towards the now fast asleep muggleborn, he lifted her up gingerly and removed the robes from her naked body. His eyes raked over her, looking for any injuries that had not been taken care of yet. When he saw none, he turned the clock on the bedside table into a bowl of self-cleaning, soapy water, and turned the lamp into a sponge. Snape unbuttoned the sleeves to his shirt then rolled them up to his elbows. He took the sponge and dipped it into the bowl, squeezing excess water out of it. He then began the task of manually cleaning her body. He didn't dare use magic while medi-spells were still running their course. The only part of her body he could clean safely through magic was her hair.

He applied slight pressure on her forehead as he ran the sponge over her face, first following her hair line then cleaning her cheeks, nose, and chin. He traced her lips with the sponge, noticing they were regaining their flushed, red color. Severus dipped the sponge back in the water before continuing to clean downwards, carefully removing the blood from her neck and breasts, not daring to look too closely at them lest his body react. He instead continued to clean slowly and meticulously down towards her stomach, hips, and thighs until he reached her toes. Turning Hermione onto her side, he repeated the process on her back.

As he finished up, there was a knock on the door. Severus told the person outside to wait while he moved to the dresser and grabbed a pair of loose shorts and a worn shirt that had some sort of muggle band name on the front of it. He lifted her arms up and slipped the t-shirt over them, lifting her upper body before securing the shirt in place. He slid the shorts over her tanned, bare legs and put blankets over her sleeping form.

He strode to the door and opened it, allowing the four people outside to enter. Minerva and Poppy immediately moved towards the bed with a handful of potions. That left Severus standing in the doorway awkwardly with Lupin and Hudson. He felt tired and weary and was glad when Hudson put an arm on his shoulder and led him outside the room.

"You check her for dark magic, Lupin." Bade demanded with a cold, Slytherin sneer on his face. Lupin barely had the chance to nod before Bade quietly shut the door in his face.

He turned toward Severus and dropped the sneer, his face showing nothing but compassion and worry. The clinking of pots and pans the sizzle of food could be heard from the kitchen downstairs, and voices carried from the living room where there was most likely a discussion going on about what had transpired just minutes ago.

Snape reached into his pant pockets and took out a hair tie. His left hand ran through his straight black hair and gathered it up at the nape of his neck. He tied it in place then looked back at Hudson. They gazed at each other for a few, short seconds. Then, Bade crossed the gap between them and put his arms under Severus' and around his back, holding him firmly. The motion was foreign to Severus as the only people he had ever hugged were females- Hermione, Lily, and the muggle neighbor. It looked as though Hudson was not prepared to let go so Severus put his arms around the redhead's shoulders and back.

He immediately understood why people did this so often. He felt a warm comfort run through his entire being. He felt cared about and knew he could count on this man, his best mate, to stand by his side and fight with him. Severus still didn't know what he would do when Hermione woke up, but he knew somehow that it would come to him.

No words were needed as the men let go of each other and the embrace and walked toward the library.

Author's Note: I had forgotten how much I loved Bade Hudson.


	3. An Unknown Friendship

Chapter 3: An Unknown Friendship

Minerva had decidedly made an unbreakable vow with everyone in the house that stated she was not going to stray further than a few meters from Hermione's side while she slowly recovered. There was no point in trying to convince the elderly witch that Hermione had not yet woken and would not wake until she was administered an antidote to a powerful sleeping draft that Severus had concocted. There was even less of a point telling her that she was of no use to Hermione. Poppy was administering Hermione food through magic, and Severus was personally responsible for her general care. He had decided with the Hogwarts medi-witch that Hermione was weaker than everyone had originally imagined. The best course of action was to let her sleep it off. Her body desperately needed to rest.

The strain of Hermione being in the past away from her friends and family for so long coupled with the treatment she received from him must have had more of an effect on her than he had thought. He couldn't blame her for this. She never once showed stress in anything she did. She couldn't. It would raise suspicions that were already high.

She was a strong witch, that one.

So, instead, he blamed himself and Dumbledore. It was obvious that Dumbledore had given her some sort of mission in the past (though he did not know what it was), and she had no choice in completing it. She either did it or the time line changed. She either did it or risked everyone's existence. Severus frowned at this. The witch was still young. The mission should have been reassigned to someone who had more experience and less things to lose by going. There had to be some way to administer polyjuice potion to someone and… no. He didn't want anyone but Hermione to have kissed him. Then again, would he have known if it was someone else? Probably not. It would've been the first time he'd met her.

He wouldn't have fallen for another witch in disguise, though. It was Hermione's quirks that attracted him to her- the way she smiled even while harsh words were being said, the way her eyes lit on fire when talking about good literature, the way she was easily lost in thought and could ignore everything around her, the way she bit her bottom lip when she was worried, the way she ran her tongue over his teeth when they… Nymphadora was dispensable enough, in his opinion, but he doubted that she could manage any sort of even slightly complicated mission on her own. Instead of the smooth entrance Granger had when she came, Nymphadora would probably trip over her robes, fall flat on her face, and be humiliated by the Marauders instead of taken in. What irony that would be considering she was pregnant with her second child by the wolf.

But there was no point in dwelling on this now. It was obvious that Dumbledore did what he thought was best. He always did, after all. Even if it made things complicated for everyone else.

He pursed his lip and turned to the sleeping witch on the bed. It was the third day since she had returned, and he knew she was well enough to eat her own food and bathe herself. It was time for her to be woken up.

Wondering how he should go about this, Severus reached into the bedside table's top drawer and lifted a small flask. Green slushed angrily against a pearly white. The potion was perfect.

There was a good chance that Minerva would want to be told. There was not a doubt in his mind that Potter and Weasley would want to be told. Hudson and Lupin would probably like to be there as she opened her eyes. Molly would have his head if she wasn't there.

Smirking, he closed his eyes lazily. Oh yes, they would all want to talk to her immediately. However, Severus had other plans. He had selfish desires that involved getting over his own misery and waking her so that he could gauge his own reaction. If he didn't wake her now, he never would simply because he was a coward. He knew how he felt about her even after all these years, but he didn't know if he wanted those feelings. If he didn't want to love her, then the best course of action would be to separate himself completely from her. He would be cut out of her life, and there wasn't anything she could do about it.

Unstopping the flask, he gripped the end of a dropper that was still in the drawer. He brought its tip into the flask and extracted a small amount of the hissing potion. The potion was put on the table and stopped again. Severus only had one thing left to do now, and that was to administer the antidote. Stilling his nerves, he thanked Merlin that he had remembered to ward the door, and let three tiny droplets fall between her parted lips.

Brown hair scraped against the pillow as she slowly started to stir. Next, her arms twitched a bit under the covers. Then, when Severus thought she was going to open her eyes, she unceremoniously flipped over in one smooth motion and laid on her stomach. Well, that was unexpected. He didn't think she would be brought out of her potions-induced sleep only to fall into a natural one.

The little chit always _did _do what she wanted.

He was about to stand up and walk out of the room when she suddenly rolled over, sat up straight and looked around frantically, looking for the wand that was previously attached to her arm. Her mind worked quickly, and after only a second of discomfort and paranoia, realization settled in. Her still pale face turned slowly to him, and her chocolate eyes flashed with relief.

"How are you feeling, Miss Granger?" He asked stiffly.

"I'm feeling quite a bit better, Severus. Thank you," she responded taking a few deep breaths and reaching for a glass of water on her bedside table. She swiftly drank the lot of it.

"Are you experiencing any major pains?" He asked softly, watching her tongue dart out to wet her lips.

"Beside my head, no." She instinctively put her right hand to where there was previously a deep gash in her head.

"Good. Let me inform the others that you are awake, and I'm sure they will be here to see you shortly," he said, taking his wand and unwarding the door. He produced his patronus with a silent flick of his wrist. The doe looked at him in question for a moment before nodding and running through the door.

"Wait, Severus…" She trailed off, not knowing what to say.

"Yes, Miss Granger? Is there something I can do for you?" His voice came out more exasperated and annoyed than he meant for it to.

Hurt flashed in her eyes and stayed there as she dropped her gaze momentarily. Just as quickly as her head was lowered, it was back up.

She stared at him for a few moments before replying, "No, Severus. Never mind. I should have known better than to expect you to come to me after all these years," she said sourly. She always _was _a girl of logic.

He hesitated for a moment, wanting to prove her wrong. Unfortunately, the door opened, and the room was flooded with Weasleys and Potters and other miscellaneous people.

Her eyes still on him, he took a few steps back and retreated to a corner. Soon, a crowd had enveloped her completely. Questions of well-being were thrown about. Everyone in the room had enough sense to not pester her with questions about the past now (besides Weasley who probably had to be reminded repeatedly before he was allowed to even enter the room). Hermione easily shrugged off their concerns and assured them that she was right as rain.

Severus saw Bade enter the room and nod at him before he managed to easily push his way to the front between Ginevra and Harry Potter. The red-headed man brought one hand to his face to push away his youthful bangs before he leaned down to give Hermione a long hug which she returned with ease. The chattering in the room quieted down the same way as when Severus had scooped Hermione into his arms a few days earlier.

Severus watched the scene with interest. He was not informed that Bade Hudson and Hermione Granger shared a friendship. He should have inferred as much when Hudson asked questions about the young girl even when he was not in the Order. In fact, Hudson had only spoken to Dumbledore and later McGonagall about joining the Order in the later part of the war and had only joined afterward.

Hudson was also always concerned about her even while they were at school. They must've had a friendship that he was blind to. He suppressed the childish jealousy that rang through his body and reminded himself that there were worse things he kept from Hudson.

"You've grown up well, Bade," said Hermione, laughter evident in her teasing voice.

"And you, my dear, are just as I remembered you from the midnight Hogsmeade trips we took when you felt rebellious," Hudson teased, a boyish grin playing on his face.

_Midnight Hogsmeade trips_? He arched an eyebrow to no one in particular.

"Hermione!" Ron exclaimed in mock outrage. "All that time during our sixth year when you were scolding us about sneaking to the kitchens, and here you are, sneaking out of the castle!"

She laughed, her voice no longer filled with the annoyance it had when quelling their concerns. "I was stressed! I spent the majority of my free time trying to keep your dad," she paused to find the male Potter and pointed at him in mock anger, "out of trouble! Lily and I had to babysit him and Sirius and even Remus sometimes so that they wouldn't get themselves killed."

Everyone in the room laughed, and Severus could practically feel the joy radiating off of Potter when he heard Miss Granger talking about his parents.

"Remus, I had no idea!" Nymphadora exclaimed, pinching her husband in the side.

"I was never _that _bad," Lupin muttered through a lighthearted pout.

"If I recall correctly, Lupin, I remember a time when you tried to pantse me, and _that _was in our _seventh _year!" Hudson smirked in a superior manner, settling himself down on the bed next to Hermione, throwing one hand around her waist casually. Severus growled to himself and wondered how close their friendship was. Did she cry to him _and _Lupin when Severus mistreated her? He hoped not.

The small room roared with laughter, and everyone looked questioningly at Remus.

"I remember that. You saw it coming and threw up an invisible barrier. Remus had his hands on your pants when he was thrown back, his brown hair dyed silver and green, the words _"I bat for the other team!!!" _stitched into the back of his robes without him even knowing," Hermione said, joining in on the progressively louder laughter.

"WAIT A SECOND," bellowed Lupin, the laughter no longer in his voice. The room suddenly quieted down at the outrage in the adult wizard's voice. "My robes said _what_?"

Even Severus had to laugh at that. The wolf had managed to get rid of his Slytherin hair by the end of double potions, but he donned the rainbow lettering on the back of his robes for days. The room fell into comfortable laughter as Hermione continued to share and reminisce with Lupin and Hudson.

Severus stayed in the corner for a while longer, listening to anecdotes of how Hermione and Hudson spent time together. He finally decided to leave the room when his heart began to grow tight from jealousy. He was a 40 year old man, and he did not like the 17 year old boy in him stirring in rage.

So, why did he feel like he wanted to rip out his best friend's throat for the way his hand had been drawing lazy circles on her waist?


	4. Biscuits and Manipulation

Author's Note: I'm not sure how I even feel about this chapter, but it's here, and it's short. So that's a good thing, right?

Chapter 4: Biscuits and Manipulation

He felt an odd sense of déjà vu when he walked past Hermione's room in the middle of the night only to hear two voices talking quietly. Though he was not a nosy boy anymore, he was still a curious man, spying having taught him that information was never an unwelcome surprise. He stopped at the outside of the door, hidden away in the shadows of the night. Though the door was not open, Severus' proficient hearing let him understand what was being said.

"You shouldn't stress yourself out right away, Hermione. You're barely back in your own time," Lupin gently said.

"Yes, but I've been thinking about it since I was in the past. That spell was full-proof, Remus. It was one demonstration away from getting patented. It should _not_ have screwed up that badly. I am not a brash person, and I would never have thought to have Draco perform the spell on me if I thought that there was even a _possibility _that it might backfire in any way."

"Have you considered the possibility that-"

"I trust Draco. He's grown into an honest, responsible, trustworthy man. He is not evil."

"Okay. I honestly don't know then, but I do know that you should take a break from fighting evil. You've just come back from fighting your second war in a row," Lupin teased.

"It's not like I have anything else to focus on… like a relationship," she muttered darkly.

Severus felt his stomach lurch uncontrollably. It was evident from her voice that she wanted a relationship to work on, and he was intelligent enough to infer that she was talking about him.

He could hear sighing, and he wasn't sure whether it came from Hermione or from the wolf. Either way, the frustration practically leaked out of the room.

"I don't know what to tell you, Hermione," was Lupin's only response.

"I know. I love him, Remus, and I wish that I could have told him I was from the future. Maybe he wouldn't have given up on me then. Maybe he would've waited. What a fool I was to expect him to not move on," Hermione now sobbed, her voice cracking.

He hadn't given up on her. He still loved her.

"It's not your fault nor is it his. You've seen only a fraction of what his life has been like. He was never a happy boy, but life has hardened him, I fear, irreversibly."

"I don't believe that. I can't believe that. Maybe it's rash and immature, but right now it feels like I will always love him like I do now. Maybe when it's been 20 years for me, I'll be different. For now, all I can do is blame myself because it's easier that way."

Severus closed his eyes and put his hands at the bridge of his nose reflexively. If he hadn't read so much Rand as a child, he might have believed that fate was being cruel to him. He never overheard as many conversations between two people as he did between Lupin and Granger. They talked excessively and openly, and he wished that they didn't.

He spent a short part of his life falling in love with the Muggleborn witch and spent a great part of his life trying to forget about her. Then, he spent more years trying to ignore her or berate her. Now, he had to continue to do that for no logical reason other than the fact that life wasn't fair.

It had been too long. He was old and broken, and she was young. She would move on. She was a bright witch, without a doubt, and would be better off with someone like Thomas or Boot. He knew it would hurt to see her with other men as it had with Weasley, but he would get through it.

It would be more difficult now with her confession, but it was still possible.

"I think you fell for him because he was like you. You felt alone when you came, and he did, too. You're not alone here, Hermione, and there are plenty of people to get along with. I think you'll find love here easier than you'd expect though I suppose that's not easy to hear."

No, it definitely wasn't. Lupin confirmed Severus' fears. She would move on easily, and he would once again have to deal with watching her fall in love.

"You expect me to get back together with Ron, then?" She asked sourly.

"Heavens no, Hermione. Ron was puppy love- a childhood crush. You two have nothing in common besides physical chemistry. You know that I care a great deal about Ron and respect the man he has become immensely, but he is not an intellectual match for you. He is not the wittiest of men and often rash while you, my dear, have the sharpest tongue of anyone I know and think everything through many too many times."

"He's not stupid," she huffed out. Severus had to hide his snickers. He begged to differ.

"No, that he is not. I wasn't implying that. I was simply stating that you are freakishly intelligent and will be bored unless you have someone to butt heads with. It's why you and Ron lasted at all and why you and I never would've worked."

"Remus, I…" She trailed off, her voice sad.

"No need to apologize. I've had many years to deal with it and have found a love of my own." The wolf calmly stated, and Severus could practically hear the smile in his tone as he thought about the clumsy Auror with an affinity for pink hair.

"I'm glad. I hated that I couldn't return your feelings especially since you were my best friend," she confided.

"As did I. However, time heals most wounds. I think yours will heal with time if Snape doesn't get his head out of his ass." Lupin snickered.

"Language, Remus!" She cried in a shocked tone.

"An old man _can _state the truth, can't he?" Lupin laughed.

"You are not old! You're still young by Wizarding standards and as handsome as you were when you were seventeen," Hermione said firmly.

"Only because you, Harry, and Nymphadora make me feel young. Speaking of feeling young, Teddy's learning how to walk."

Severus took this as a cue to step away from the shadows and walk toward the stairs at the other end of the hall. He didn't care about the little teal-haired, shape-shifting child. It would've at least been a little interesting had he been born with his father's curse. Oh, how he would love to hold the potion-making process over Lupin's head. Of course, he would never intentionally make a baby suffer, but he liked to pretend he would. Fear was the easiest way to get respect and in his opinion, the most efficient.

The stairs still creaked as Severus walked down them. It would've been quite simple to repair them with magic, but Potter insisted that the house be kept in original condition (sans the portrait of Black). There were oodles of new charms on the house with Potter as its secret keeper, and it was a safe haven for the Order. Potter, himself, didn't live there so he let everyone have a free run of the place. It was also, obviously, used as Order Headquarters.

"Severus, my dear boy, you're still awake!" cried the shrill voice of Molly Weasley as Severus entered the kitchen. Her still bright red hair bounced around her chubby face as she walked to the stove.

"You don't have to get me-"

"Have some tea to go with the biscuits, Dear. You're getting far too skinny. I know that you don't feed yourself well at home-"

"I feed myself just fi-"

"-but I cannot let you go without a decent meal under my watch. Have a seat while I heat up the biscuits."

"Thank you, Molly," Severus said as he refrained from rolling his eyes at the elderly witch. He knew that there was no way out of eating at least two or three biscuits. The woman could mother a basilisk into submission.

"You're quite welcome," she said, setting down the now magically heated food items. She sat down across the table from Severus, stirring her tea idly.

There was an atypical tense silence between the two. Mrs. Weasley opened her mouth and closed it several times, pursing her lips.

"Severus, may I be frank?"

He considered the question for a moment before nodding. He could easily guess what she would question him about.

"What went on between you and Hermione?"

Severus took a knife and dipped it into the raspberry jam, smearing it onto his food, thinking about an answer. He knew Molly Weasley was sharp despite her affinity for playing dumb. There was no way she could've produced smart children such as Percy Weasley and Ginevra if she wasn't.

"We had relations in the past," he answered simply, shrugging it off. He knew that he couldn't lie to the elder woman, and even if he could, he had no reason to. She was not one to judge. She certainly was nosy though.

"I see. It's as I thought then. And what now?"

"Nothing," he answered, taking a bite.

"Too bad, Dear. It's time for you to be happy, and my Hermione certainly is smitten with you."

Severus wasn't clear on what his reaction to that should be. Shock? Outrage? Anger? He simply stared at Molly, his beady black eyes searching hers while his face and body remained impassive.

"I have the right to meddle a little, and you can't tell me that you haven't noticed her blatant affection for you. It's clear as day," she chastised as if he had done something wrong. "I know you better than quite a few people do, and I know your feelings are very raw. I think perhaps you should think about pursuing a relationship with Hermione. I have a feeling she'll need it, and I know for a fact that you do."

"You can't tell me that you approve of what happened between us even though you do not know the full extent of it."

"And why not? You were both of age to decide who you wanted to date, and I see no evidence that it has scarred you irreversibly."

"And what now? I would not be able to make her happy nor do I know if I want to deal with a relationship. I don't think I'm capable of successfully maintaining one."

"Oh pish. I do not for one second believe that. I think you're a coward, afraid of getting hurt."

Severus' eyes flashed dangerously, hinting at the rage he felt. "I do not know where you got the idea that you could insult me so openly, Molly."

"Is it an insult if it's true?" She challenged, dropping her friendly attitude.

"How dare you, woman?!"

"Prove me wrong then."

And then he kicked himself for being so easily manipulated. While Severus was still in shock that such a traditional witch of Pureblooded heritage could approve of such an affair, he definitely gave Molly Weasley credit for backing him into a corner.

She was right though. Maybe he was a coward.

He pondered this thought for a second before putting on his best Slytherin smirk, sweeping out of the room, a purple biscuit still in his hand.

Severus was out of sight before a red-headed non-Weasley stepped out from the pantry doors and sat in Severus' vacated chair. Molly Weasley sighed when Bade sat down.

"You were brilliant, Molls," Bade whispered.

"I just hope you're right and this works. If it doesn't, both of them are in for pain that I'm not sure they can handle."

"Don't worry. I've got it under control."

Molly's worried face turned into a smile. She trusted Bade Hudson. He was a clever young man.

A now not-worried Molly Weasley summoned herself a knife and helped herself to a biscuit. She deserved it, after all.


	5. Shirtless

Author's Note: Another odd sort of chapter. Anyway, you're almost at new stuff.

Chapter 5: Shirtless

Severus was bored. It wasn't often that he was without something to do. More often than not, he was buried under paperwork from Hogwarts (since that was a part of his job as Deputy Headmaster), had to brew dozens of different potions for dozens of different people (while Poppy was proficient as a certified mediwitch, her weak spot was without a doubt potions), and he generally was working on his own spells and potions. Today, he didn't feel like working. It was plain and simple. He still had a week until start of term so he was staying at Grimmauld Place. While he could've gone back to his hole in Spinner's End, he still wanted to keep an eye on Hermione.

Thinking of the bushy-haired gir-woman, he remembered his chat with Molly last night. Infuriating, nosey, assuming woman, she was. He had expected something like that from Hudson, not from the elder Weasley. Now that he thought about it, it was strange that Hudson had yet to say anything about Hermione. In fact, it was unbelievable. He had known Bade for years, and he was so meddlesome that Severus, himself, was surprised that he put up with him. It really was incredible.

Actually, he was right the first time around. It _was_ unbelievable.

"Hudson!" Severus fumed, making a dramatic entrance into the living room where Hudson was sitting with a book in his hand, Theodore Lupin in his lap, and Teddy's parents on an opposite sofa.

"Ahh, Monsieur Snape! Salut! Ca va?" Hudson asked with the heaviest French accent he could pull off, tugging at an imaginary mustache. The baby in his lap giggled, and Tonks couldn't help but laugh herself.

"Ca va mal. Nymphadora, you may want to shield the baby's ears."

Bade scooped Teddy up from his lap and handed him across the coffee table to Nymphadora. She took the wand from Remus' robe sleeve and cast an oblivious bubble around her child who giggled at the lavender spark emitted from his mum's wand.

"In all these years, I thought you had finally matured. I was a fool for thinking so."

"Stop with the theatrics, Severus. I presume you've figured out I had something to do with Molly's meddling," Bade slyly commented, crossing his legs.

"Nymphadora, may I have a word in the other room?" Remus begged, desperate to flee from the conversation that didn't yet involve him.

"Are you kidding, Rem? Not a chance," She said, following the movements of the two arguing men.

Remus sat back down dejectedly.

"I don't know where the two of you got the idea that I need you to interfere in my affairs!" Severus exclaimed.

"Or lack thereof, you mean!" Bade countered in a calm voice.

"Or lack thereof," Severus agreed. "It's my business either way."

"It becomes my business when a stubborn, pigheaded mate of mine hurts another mate that's innocent and giving and would never hurt anyone herself." Bade's eyes were now flashing dangerously even though his voice remained low and calm.

"No, it does not. It may be of your own good will to comfort her, but it is of mine if I want to hurt her," Severus countered without thought.

He didn't get a chance to be shocked at his own cruel statement or to think about how loaded it was. He was thrown backwards through the kitchen door, it flying off its hinges and Severus smashing into the kitchen cabinets.

Tonks was caught between handing the baby to Remus or putting him in his crib. Upon seeing the angry expression on Remus' face, she decided the crib would be the safest bet. After she set him down, she ran into the kitchen, still wielding Remus' wand. She kneeled over him, checking him over. He was unconscious, but that was not from him hitting the cabinets, it seemed. He was unconscious before he even hit the door because of the power of the blast. It wasn't any specific spell or curse cast on him either. It was raw energy discharged from Bade- raw energy rarely any wizards had the ability to tap into.

She levitated him and took him upstairs, knowing there was nothing to do besides let him rest and tend to his burns.

---

When Severus awoke, he felt sore, and he knew he probably deserved to. It only took him a split second after waking up to realize his words were unimaginably cruel not only to his best mate but to the woman he loved and himself. Even though Hudson was incredibly nosy and insufferable at the best of times, he had a point. She was his mate, and he was just looking out for her.

To Severus' defense, he wasn't trying to be cruel to her on purpose. His feelings weren't black and white. And in the heat of argument, he wasn't likely to be rational one hundred percent of the time.

One thing still wasn't clear to him, however. When did Hermione and Bade become such good friends? It obviously happened behind his back, but when? He kept a close eye on her even when he wasn't on speaking terms with her. Bade always seemed to be around him, harassing him somehow. The friendship wasn't just built in this time obviously. They had memories of past times that even the werewolf seemed to be aware of. This bothered him even further. He knew that Lupin had a schoolboy crush on her, but did Hudson too? And worse- did they have a tryst of sorts?

"Can I go in, Tonks?" He heard an unusually timid voice ask from outside the door.

"He'll probably still be unconscious, Herms. Hudson knocked the evil out of the git," Tonks answered outside the door. He suppressed a growl deep in his throat.

"Tonks!" the first voice exclaimed. It was Hermione no doubt.

"You just got out of the bed yourself. This isn't a hospital, you know? With the amount of people getting injured lately Poppy and I should be on a separate payroll," Tonks muttered darkly.

"Why are you taking care of him in the first place? Remus seems to have more patience for something like this," she wondered to herself. Curious chit.

"Remus wants to be nowhere near him right now." There was a moment where both of them talked at the same time, and he couldn't make out the words. Nymphadora continued, "It's not for me to tell you. Now, you can go in if you want. It's not like he's in some sort of critical condition. I have to go to work anyway. I'm an Auror- _not_ a mediwitch."

When Severus heard the old door start to open, Severus felt like a child over again- not even a teenager- a child. He closed his eyes and tried to slow his breathing, pretending to be asleep.

Only a moment passed before warm hands touched his forehead and cheeks.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk, boys. What am I going to do with you?" She asked rhetorically, uncovering his blankets and unbuttoning his casual robes, which still had more buttons than most wizards' formal ones.

Her task seemed to be to get him shirtless as she worked on his crisp white shirt next. She took it off, folding it and putting it next to his robes. Smooth fingers ran across his sparsely- haired chest. The pads ran lightly up his body and traced his collarbones.

"And I had half a mind to leave him lying there myself!" Tonks yelled through the closed door, muttering darkly to herself. The creak of the stairs could be heard next.

Hermione chuckled more deeply than he thought possible before sighing.

"It was about me, wasn't It?" she asked.

He took a shot in the dark and decided to not answer here. He was wasn't sure whether or not she bought into his elementary sick act. She may have just been talking to herself.

"I know you're awake, Severus. You've been reacting to my presence this whole time. If you don't want to talk to me, say the words."

"It was about you," he conceded simply, opening his eyes to take in her curly hair and pink cheeks. He liked her hair down, but she usually put it up. It wasn't the most practical hair.

"Okay."

Her hands continued to trace the outlines of his collarbones, her touch lingering on certain spots. The way she was leaning over him, he could see the top of her breasts and the outline of her bra though the collared, oversized white shirt she was wearing.

"It's yours. I nicked it from yours and Bade's room. The Marauders, Lily, and I were pulling pranks," she admitted, following his train of thought.

He didn't think it was a woman's shirt. It was tight on her breasts and loose around her small waist.

"It smelled like you," she continued, moving her hands from his collarbones down lower, using her hands to trace over his nipples teasingly before going up again.

He didn't have the willpower to stop her ministrations, and he had no reason to. He missed her touch. While their interactions were innocent by his standards now, they were everything to him so many years ago.

"I became addicted to the way you smell. You don't even realize the subtle scent of new parchment and old books you have about you. It's an odd mix, and yet I love it. You had shut me out when I took the shirt from you. I couldn't stand to not have your smell, Severus," she added again, one of her hands tweaking a nipple while the other moved to his lower belly to the trail of black hair that led beneath his dress slacks.

"It's still like that for me, you know? I've been back what? A week? In that week, I've seen you twice. You sneak in when I'm sleeping to make sure I'm getting better, and then, you allow yourself to falter. For just one moment, you put your hands on my lips, on my face, on my body somewhere, and it immediately sends sparks throughout my body to wake me. I pretend to stay asleep in the hopes that you don't realize my breath has suddenly sped up, in the hopes that maybe you'll kiss me like you did behind bookshelves and under trees. I can learn to live without the kisses, but it's your smell that drives me wild."

He stayed silent, not knowing what to say or whether he could even mutter the words to express his hormonal urges to her- the way it felt to run his hands through her hair and twirl the curls around his fingers. If he had admitted to loving her, then why couldn't he do it to her? What mental block was stopping him?

Her face was flushed, her eyes burned with desire, and her nipples were hard through his shirt. She wanted him, and Merlin, he wanted her. Yet something stopped him. He didn't want to toy with her feelings again. He couldn't give into emotions when he didn't think this was the best for either of them. Despite what he said to Hudson earlier, he knew the truth.

"I'm a big fan of thinking myself, but I've recently learned to stop thinking when I need to. It's clear that you can't do the same. I'll leave you to your thoughts," she said, leaning down quickly and stealing a long, hard kiss before fleeing from the room as if he would punish her for it if she didn't get away quickly enough.

What was he going to do? Take away house points? He smirked to himself, groaning when he felt the erection she had caused.

Maybe not house points, but a detention sounded good. Severus chuckled darkly, thinking of the possibilities.


	6. Who framed Draco Malfoy?

Author's Note: I had some things here I was hinting at. If anyone can decipher them, let me know. I've no idea where I was going with this. Anyway, next chapter's new.

Chapter 6: Who Framed Draco Malfoy?

It was only a few hours later that he saw Hermione again. She was wearing more clothes this time, thankfully, a muggle shirt and jeans. She wasted no time before she plopped herself down on his bed and searched his eyes.

"I want you to help me," she said finally. "Though I haven't been back in my time long, I spent the months in your era thinking about how I even got to be there. Draco is trustworthy and would never do anything to jeopardize my life, and he sure as hell wouldn't risk going to Azkaban by trying to kill me in front of the Minister of Magic."

Severus had not suspected Draco either. He'd spent a great portion of the last twenty years thinking about the same thing she was wondering about now. The only difference was that he had not had time to spend investigating this as he didn't know how it would happen, who would have any information on it, and he was too busy fighting with the Order and just surviving to be concerned, but now the war was over.

"There are a few possibilities as to how whoever did this to you did it. That's the first step in solving this mystery. The first possibility is that someone did this through a time activation spell. They got a hold of Draco's wand and cursed it to fire a certain spell at a specific time. That's easily done assuming that he doesn't sleep with his wand in his hand, and even more likely, if this was the case, it could've been done as the routine Ministry check-in/scan was being done. That would mean that it is not only a Ministry employee, but also someone who knew Draco would be with you at a specific part of the day, in the Minister's office. It's highly unlikely that someone could have planned it so perfectly that they would've known exactly when to have the spell go off," Severus pondered, more to himself than to her.

"We cannot completely ignore that idea since the person who put the spell on the wand obviously managed to muck it up. Time travel spells are very complex, and for it to be confused with another spell is intriguing in and of itself. I'll have to do research on similar spells and curses. Maybe a word, a meaning, or something of that sort was mispronounced or confused. Whoever did it was bright but sloppy, and I bet they're not above trying again," Hermione added, a determined look on her face.

Severus was amazed that she was not frightened out of her mind. Most people would have gotten protective orders issued by the ministry, and hell, she was friends with the Golden Boy. There wasn't a doubt in his mind that she could've had a squad of Aurors tailing her and following her at all times. Of course, most people weren't war heroes, and no one else has Hermione Jean Granger.

"I was thinking that the perp might have pulled a Severus Snape on a more complex level," she said with a smirk.

He raised an eyebrow and gave a smirk of his own. "A Severus Snape?"

Her own eyebrow quirked, and she said, "He or she may have fired the spell through Draco's wand. That also allows for the possibility of fucking it up since Draco has a strong enough connection with his wand for it to want not to betray him."

He had also considered this. A strong enough witch or wizard could have easily used a channeling spell to have whatever spell they fired, fire out of Draco's wand. She was referring to what he did to send her home, making it look like the incantation was fired out of Remus's wand. Of course, he hadn't had time or patience, or even enough knowledge at that point to successfully send it out of Remus's wand. He was faking it.

"There's a range to those kinds of spells so the person who did it, once again would have to be a Ministry employee, and they would have had to see his actions through a two way mirror or some sort of spying device. This possibility is even more unlikely than the last," Severus said.

Hermione sighed loudly, nodding in agreement.

"It could have been an optical illusion spell. The caster may have been in the room but overwhelmed you with what they wanted to happen," Severus suggested.

"You act as if I haven't been faced with that sort of magic before, the unforgivable kind. I would have immediately detected that magic was present even if the others were not able to," Hermione spat bitterly.

"Yes, but you weren't focused. Even I would not have been focused in that situation. If the caster was able enough, you would have never known, especially with all the protective magic in the Ministry anyway," Severus said, partially lying.

He did not underestimate Hermione's ability. On the contrary, he thought her to be the most capable witch he had ever encountered. However, Severus was a trained spy who had been in the smack middle of two wars, and there was no way in hell that anything could deceive him anymore unless the magic was cast by Dumbledore himself.

"You're lying, but that's alright for now. I was thinking I could start with some research on spells that could be confused with time travel spells. Of course, I doubt there's much knowledge about time travel spells since they're illegal and very hard to perform. So, I'll have to start from the ground up. I was thinking you could look into the dark magic of it. Maybe it wasn't a spell at all. Maybe it was an object laced with an original spell like a portkey mixed with a time travel potion. I wouldn't survive in Knockturn Alley, but you obviously could," she said as she got up from his bed.

"We'll meet back in a week's time. I assume that time will be adequate," she said as she walked out the door.

"Yes, that will be 'adequate,'" he mocked as she closed his door. Stupid bint.

He stared at the door after she left. Gods, every time she came in the room, he wanted to bend her over and fuck her. Hard. The way he'd never been able to when he was a teenager.

Knowing he had to get his mind off the cries she would undoubtedly emit, he slowly began the task of getting out of bed. His body still ached. It wasn't his muscles that hurt, like they did whenever he'd had a good 'Crucio!' It felt like his bones were going to burst out of his body. Swinging one leg over the bed, Severus nudged himself closer to the edge, following the step with the other. He stood up, his body screaming at him to lie back down. However, he was more stubborn than his body's craving for well-being was, and so he put on his robes and walked out the door himself.

He wasn't more than a few slow and arduous steps into the hall when he saw the fiery red hair of Bade, walking straight toward him.

Awkward was never a word that Severus could associate with a moment. Other people might have, but he never did. Why let a situation dictate his behavior? However, now Severus felt distinctly unsure, and awkward because of it. _There _was one of five people in his life that he didn't hate, and the only one who could annoy him and still be liked, walking down the hall, and Severus wasn't sure how to react.

He wasn't angry that Bade had cursed him, but knowing Bade, he was probably still angry at Severus. He would have to let the other man make the first step so that Severus could see where they stood.

Once Bade was near him, he froze and stared.

"Are you going to apologize?" The man asked, anger flooding his eyes.

Severus's eyebrow simply quirked in response. Severus did not apologize often, and he didn't see any reason for the man in front of him to ask for one.

Bade quickly drew his wand and tried to curse Severus, but Severus was much more prepared and shielded himself, wordlessly retaliating, a dark lavender light shooting out of his own wand.

Bade sprang out of the way to avoid it, the spell hitting the wall and causing the house to shake with the power of it instead. Severus pointed at the ground, causing it to become slippery, also causing Hudson to slip and fall. Snape took this opportunity to fire another spell at him, but Hudson was not down that easily, using the substance on the floor and raising it up, causing it to wrap around the spell in a brown, gooey mess, and firing it back.

Severus cast a spell to stop all objects in the vicinity to freeze including the pictures on the walls. He pushed the altered spell out of the way and barely dodged the next one that Bade had already fired. It was too late to put up a barrier especially since the hue of the spell was unfamiliar to him. His only option was to fire one back and hope his was stronger.

The red and yellow spells hit in the middle of the hall, the reanimated portraits screaming for help and the house still shaking. They battled for a few seconds before they exploded where they met, landing both Severus and Bade on their arses.

Breathing heavily, both men looked at each other and lowered their wands. Bade, not having previous injuries, stood up and dusted himself off. He walked to Severus and gave him a hand up.

"Are you well enough to help me pick out a new owl? I'm afraid mine died of old age," said Bade.

"I suppose it wouldn't further injure me," Severus said, letting go of his mate's hand once he was stable.

"Let's go then," Bade said, looking at the wreckage of the hallway, cleaning it up, and passing a very confused Harry Potter and Arthur Weasley on the way out the door.


	7. Boyish Games

Author's Note: Hi all. It's been a long time, eh? If anyone's even left that is. Anyway, I promised you that I'd never abandon this story, and here I am making good. I've got an urge to finish this now, so the time has come. Let's get on with this story and finish the 4th in the series.

The only sad part is that I don't remember what I was planning, and I lost the files for this story. Therefore, I've no idea who did it or how the story was going to end. Sucks, huh? Oh well, I'll keep writing, and in a few days time, I should have an idea of exactly **where** this story is going! Bare with me! No more long hiatuses! I may be halfway into my undergrad career, but I've still enough time to write my originals _and_ this!

Summary of what's happened so far: Hermione came back. She and Sev are trying to figure out who sent her back in time, what the person's intentions were, etc. She and Bade and Lupin also seemed to have a friendship.

Now onto the show! I'm a little rusty, but I'll get back into it soon. Bear with me! This chapter has lemons.

Chapter 7

Severus knew better than to leave a Marauder pissed off at him for too long. His first order of business after making good with Bade was making good with Remus. He didn't exactly _need_ to apologize to the wolf, even if he _didn't_ loathe him anymore. He only needed to do enough to be able to tell meddlesome wizards and witches to get off his back.

That's how Severus Snape found himself leaving a fine bottle of rum with a hand-written note at Lupin's door at Grimmauld Place. For the first time, he was actually _pleased_ that Potter had given anyone and everyone a room here. It was convenient, if nothing else.

Of course, Severus Snape had the luck of a drafted soldier, and Lupin was actually _in_ the room instead of at his own home. Curses.

"I'm not an alcoholic, Snape," Lupin muttered, picking up the bottle and handing it back to him.

"You may not be, but you're also not abstinent. Take it as an apology and leave me be," Severus said, trying to push it back into Remus's hands.

"I'm not the one you should be apologizing to."

"I'm glad we agree on that, so don't be a snit," he black-haired man said, shoving the bottle into Remus's chest and letting go, forcing the man to use his hands to catch the bottle.

"_Really_, Severus? Minimal efforts, huh? You can be lazy and childish toward me, but I'm still not going to put up with you being that way toward Hermione. As long as you understand and respect that, we're fine."

Severus nodded, heading down the hall past Hermione's room. He'd been throwing his energy into research for the past two days, but it didn't do him any good. He'd recruited Bade to help him, and Bade's help involved bringing up Hermione every chance he got.

Maybe it was _Granger_ who turned respectable adults into children? There was only one way to fix this.

He strode into Hermione's room without knocking, and wasn't surprised to see her chatting with Ron Weasley and Harry Potter. All three of them snapped their attention in his direction when the room door opened.

Weasley eyed him with dislike, but they must have been talking about something pleasant before, because Potter's eyes were still filled with glee as he noticed Snape. Hermione's eyes were warm as always as she motioned him over. She was sitting upright in her bed, with Potter facing her on the bed and Weasley on a chair to the right of her.

Severus made his way to her left and sat down in a chair that was already there.

"I was just telling them about James's and Lily's first date! Did you ever get to hear this story, Severus?" she questioned.

"No." And he didn't _want_ to_. _But he stayed there, nonetheless.

She smiled, continuing the story. "Lily was _so_ upset at landing in the hospital wing. She _swore_ that it was a bad omen. She cried for two days straight, telling James that it was no use seeing each other anymore. If James had managed to make her a picnic using the one, rare ingredient she was allergic to, there was _no_ way they could work out."

"And what did Dad do?" Harry questioned.

"Well, your dad accompanied me to the library, and I helped him search for spells to make someone, at least temporarily, not be allergic to something. He made the same meal for her again, cast the spell over her, and made her eat it. It was the sweetest thing, but James hadn't really been careful enough. In the subscript, it had said that the spell made the castor temporarily be the one allergic to it instead. So _he_ ended up in the hospital wing the next day. Poor bloke."

Potter and Weasley laughed raucously, and Hermione had a wide smile on her face as she remembered the events.

"Do you remember that, Severus? It was the day you thought all of us skived off Charms." She turned toward him, encouraging him to join the conversation.

"Vaguely. It was a _long_ time ago," he said matter-of-factly.

He didn't know what reaction he expected, but it wasn't the look of sadness that crossed her face.

Severus was simply stating the truth, pointing out the obvious. For her, that was but months ago, and for him it'd been years. And to make it worse, he'd been put in a foul mood because he hadn't been involved in so much of her life. Then again, he probably wouldn't have cared _had_ she told him this story as it happened.

Potter coughed uncomfortably, but Weasley was still laughing.

It wasn't his intention to make her feel guilty. He had enough things to feel guilty about, and he knew how awful one could feel. He scraped his memory for anything he could that would cheer her up again.

"I _do_ remember when Potter rushed into the library one day and pleaded with you to help him find a way to make a tent larger on the inside." He hadn't even noticed Severus was there, which was probably a good thing as his shirt was unbuttoned and Hermione's lipgloss was smeared. It wasn't something noticeable to someone distracted by something dire, but it was definitely there.

Hermione's eyes lit up. "RIGHT! I remember that! You probably don't want to hear this Harry, but that was for their six months anniversary, I think, and that's when your mum lost her virginity!"

Harry and Ron blushed furiously, and Harry was caught between fascination and disgust. "It's weird to have a mate my age who was mates with my parents, too. Too weird. I think that's the end of the conversation for now, hearing the fact that my parents lost their virginity in a tent."

"Your mum's, not your dad's, Harry. The Marauders were whores, if nothing else!" she teased, barely containing her laughter.

"Ew. God. Hermione!" Harry exclaimed. "Time for bed. Definitely. C'mon, Ron!"

Severus snickered as he watched the interaction between the trio. Once the two had exited the room, Severus wandlessly locked and warded the door, moving to sit with her on the bed.

"We were snogging, Sev. Do you remember that?" she asked with a playful smile that reached her eyes.

When had _Hermione Granger_, resident Saint of Grimmauld, become such a flirt? She hadn't been that way in the past, at least that he remembered anyway. And he didn't think she had been here at all, from what he'd seen. That might not have been an accurate statement as he had never been intimate with her in her own time.

Maybe he couldn't remember well, or maybe she felt more in her own there. When he was young, she was under constant stress and pressure, having to fight for her life, having to conceal who she was, having to follow through a mission. She had almost _never_ been playful in his time, but that was out of character, he realized. While she may not have been flirtatious here, she was definitely _playful_.

Of course, this flirtation didn't mean she had overnight turned into a promiscuous woman or something equally ridiculous. She was the same Hermione, just safer and more relaxed.

"I do remember," he answered, not remembering the last time someone had called him 'Sev.'

"Do you remember what happened after I sent James off and promised him I'd help him later?"

"No," he lied. How could he forget? It was the greatest night of his youth.

"We went to an empty classroom on a side of the castle no one used. We transfigured a desk into a couch and a pencil into a blanket. Are you starting to remember now?" she prodded, her brown eyes engulfed in flames.

"No," he lied, wondering how far she would go in her reminiscing.

"I guess it was longer ago for you than for me," she said, sighing.

"I'm lying," he said, swallowing. "I took off your shirt. You took off my pants."

He wanted to hear her continue, in greater detail, even if it was wrong. He didn't know how Hermione could possibly be attracted to him now, but he knew she had been then. She'd been wet, and the second his hands grazed her knickers, he was shocked to find them soaking.

"You were slouching over in the sofa, and I got on my knees in front of you. I was so excited to pull off your gray boxers, Sev. I could see your member engorged even through your pants, and I remember being curious to see what you tasted like. I didn't hesitate in covering your cock with my mouth, Sev. I sucked you dry, and I loved it. For whatever reason, I'd expected you to be uncut, but you weren't, and you were beautiful. I'd never swallowed cum before, but I didn't mind the taste of it, but I liked the taste of you better. I got in trouble in Transfiguration the next day for zoning out, thinking about that night. Not that it mattered since I already knew the lesson. I just regretted that we didn't do more."

Severus was hard, thinking about that night. He regretted the same thing. Of course, then he'd imagined her as a 16 year old girl, not a 20 year old woman. Back when he had viewed her as this innocent creature he wanted to keep pure.

He didn't react as she got on her knees and kissed him, the top of her breasts visible through the top of her tank top. She wasn't wearing a bra. She looked like she was ready to sleep but was interrupted by her friends.

Her hands found his back, and she lightly scratched it. Severus couldn't help but reciprocate, nor did he feel the need to not. He couldn't concentrate with this unresolved sexual tension, and if she was willing, who was he to tell her she was wrong? He doubted a relationship would develop out of it.

These games he was playing in his head were boyish. There was a willing and mature woman in front of him that wanted him. He'd given her a few days to recoup and think about what she wanted. All he could do now was follow through with what _he_ wanted.

She broke contact with him to lift his shirt over his head, deciding that path was easier than undoing the buttons. She examined his body and looked at all the scars she'd never seen before.

Severus wasn't insecure enough anymore to think about whether this turned her off. Instead, he took off her top and latched onto one of her breasts. Gods, they were youthful and perky. He hadn't been this close to young trim in years. Her nipples were erect, and he enjoyed the feeling of the shudder that ran through her body. Her head was tossed back, her hair flowing to her mid-back.

"You're better at that now than you were then, although you're much gentler," she stated.

She wanted it rough, did she? He didn't have to be told twice as he tweaked her other nipple roughly, hearing her yelp out in pain. He bit the one that was in his mouth, and his member twitched from her groan of pain.

He was a sadist, and apparently, she was a masochist. Fine with him. If they did this again, he'd definitely have to test the waters to see how far she'd be willing to go. As for now, he wasn't sure how far she was willing to go even now.

"Tease," she muttered, pulling herself toward him and into his lap. She gyrated against his crotch.

There was _no_ way she had missed his obvious reaction, and her light smirk confirmed that belief.

"Oh, I'm a tease?" he questioned, but instead of continuing this game, he reached down to take off her cotton shorts.

When his hands met her nether regions, he wasn't as surprised as he was in his youth to find her curly, chestnut hair covered in her juices. She was _definitely_ turned on, and her body was preparing her for penetration. He was all too happy to oblige, and he pushed her off of him so that he could take off his pants and boxers.

His cock slapped against his stomach, pre-cum glistening at the tip. He didn't miss the way she licked her lips as she spread her legs, ready for him.

Severus wasn't naïve or young enough to ask her something foolish like 'are you sure?' or something else contrite. The way her womanhood was clearly on display for him said it all.

He got back onto the bed and hovered over her, giving her a long kiss. He'd never been able to experience anything as good as kissing her. Her lips were plump, and the way she sucked and nibbled on his bottom lip always shot electricity through his body. His tongue moved over her teeth before penetrating her mouth. He darted it over her tongue a few times before he moved his lips down toward her jaw, over her neck, and latched onto her shoulder blade. He bit down, making her yelp, and at the same time, he thrust into her.

Her inner passage was hot and stretched to fit around him. It seemed like a tight fit, unlike the women he'd been with over the years, and he didn't even attempt to hide the shudder that escaped his body. And she didn't either, it seemed, because she clawed his back and moaned.

"Not so chatty now, are you?" he asked with a smirk as he looked at her closed eyes.

"Can't. Think. So. Good. Love you. _So_ much," she answered, moving her hips in time with his thrusts.

He decided not to think about her words too much. He didn't doubt that she loved him in the past, but he was a different man now, a man she didn't even have _time_ to fall in love with, a man who didn't give her that _chance_. He was glad, however, that she was enjoying herself.

He thrust deeply into her, putting his hands behind her back to lift her up so that they were in a sitting position. He squeezed his hands into her side and lifted her up down, still thrusting upward with his own hips. Like this, he had the pleasure of watching her breasts swinging up and down in front of his face, her head thrown back in passion. Plus, she had the chance to use her own strength to add to her thrusts. One of her hands was on the bed, and she was using this leverage to lift herself up.

Severus didn't hide his moans, his face alternating between her breasts and her face. He loved the noise of his balls slapping against her firm butt.

"Breasts. Sore," she communicated, and Severus wasn't surprised to hear that after a while. They were also slapping against her body.

Severus lowered her back on the bed again, and he lifted one of her legs over his arm. He thrust slowly but deeply, speeding up when he felt her insides clamp around him. She was close to orgasm, and he was glad for it, because he'd been wanting to cum inside of her for a long time.

She groaned loudly, leaning upward to try to capture his mouth. Her groan turned into a series of yelps as her walls tightened around Severus's shaft. He captured her mouth and bit her upper lip, feeling her screams reverberate through his body as he thrust one more time.

He released into her in a couple of powerful bursts, and she kept shivering, not being able to stop herself.

Her arms were around his neck now, and he lowered himself on top of her for a few seconds until his member went limp. Then, he pulled out and laid next to her. She pulled him close.

"Thank you," she said. "I know you probably didn't want to do that, but I'm glad I could persuade you, Sev."

"Who are you kidding? I've always wanted to shag you, Hermione. It's what usually comes before the shagging that I dread."

"The relationship? Well, that's your decision. I want to be with you. I love you."

"You don't know me, Hermione, but I'll humor you. Just give me the courtesy of letting me know when you realize I'm not the boy you once knew."

"If I stop loving you, I'll promptly let you know. Until then, please… at least… be nice to me," she begged.

He could hear the sincerity in her voice, and it broke him down to see her so upset. She _was_ still the vulnerable woman he knew in his time, after all. He couldn't promise that he wouldn't be himself, but if he was willing to engage her in a relationship, then the least he could do was not be _horrible_. "I'll try."

"And spend the night here?" she asked.

"Hermione," he warned.

"Please."

He never _was_ good at turning her down.

Author's Note: I'm tryin', guys. New chapter should be out pretty soon. Not too much going on in my organizations or courses. Well, not enough to hinder my progress with this story, anyway! Let me know if you're still here.


	8. Apprentices

Author's Note: Thanks for letting me know if you're still around. Here's a chapter. Interesting things in here. No action though. Mainly just conversation.

Enjoy

Chapter 8

It was six in the morning when Severus awoke and dressed himself, not bothering to check whether the coast was clear before exiting her room. He knew the place like clockwork, knew that no one who was presently occupying the magical house would be up before eight. And even then, it'd probably be Hermione who'd wake up. Molly Weasley was back at the Burrow, and even she'd probably just now be rolling out of bed. It was two nights before the full moon, and even though Lupin, who also had to be up early, probably ended up going back to his own home.

So Severus was confident as he strode through the house and to the apparition point. Thinking of his destination, he disappeared with a pop.

He looked at the gates of Hogwarts and strode toward the doors, covering his mouth with a robed hand as he yawned. School wouldn't be starting for another few weeks, but he still had to work on his lesson plan. The Ministry had released notes on changes to their standardized tests, and that meant that Severus had to work overtime to make sure the instructors implemented changes into their curriculum to make sure the students would succeed. The biggest changes were in the Defense Against the Dark Arts N.E. and the Potions O., and unfortunately for him, those were both departments that he was overseeing.

Besides that, the Hogwarts restricted section also housed books that could be valuable aids in helping him determine the specifics of Hermione's journey through time. He had a hunch that there was something obvious he was overlooking, and maybe something in a book could jog his memory.

When Severus strode through the doors of Hogwarts, the one thing he wasn't expecting was his old friend Bade to be there, chatting with the tiny charms professor. However, he didn't have time to ponder this as he waved him over, his pearly white teeth showing.

"Hello, Severus!" Flitwick greeted with enthusiasm that made Severus shudder so early in the morning.

The staff meeting wasn't to begin for another hour, and he had hoped to use that hour to mentally prepare himself for his shrill voice.

"Filius," Severus acknowledged, trying his best to hide his look of disgust. The man wasn't horrible; he was just _annoying_. "To what do I owe this pleasure, Hudson?"

"Minerva asked me to join in on the meeting! You know, the Wizengamot works hand-in-hand with the Ministry, and it's because of a case involving an unfortunate incident with a transfiguration spell gone sadly wrong that they've decided to change what'll be covered in testing. I'm here to assist in making sure the new curriculum reflects the changes!"

"Funny. I thought that was _my_ job," Severus replied sourly, not liking the Ministry butting into Hogwarts business. The last time such a thing had happened… well, he didn't even want to think about that.

"Don't be a sourpuss, Snape. I'm here for your benefit, not to take away any glory from you," he replied sarcastically, a sinister smirk gracing his usually handsome features.

Severus didn't dignify that with an answer. He turned from both men and headed for the stairs to the dungeons, passing a hallway that he had once pulled Hermione into.

He stopped himself before he had the opportunity to reminisce.

Before he got to his office, he was tapped on the back. Turning around, he was relieved to see it was Minerva McGonagall. He didn't question how she had managed to keep up with his quick strides. The woman had the strength of a sixteen year old boy.

"Bade Hudson inquired about the Defense Against the Dark Arts position," she stated, pausing for a few seconds to gauge his reaction, he assumed.

"It's filled," Severus said, not understanding why the woman was bringing it up.

"Remus isn't sure he'll have the energy to do it once his second child arrives," Minerva said, her lips tight.

Severus paused to think about this, wondering if it was a valid reason to give up the position. The man wasn't old by anyone's standards, and with a special floo connection, he didn't need to stay in his chambers at Hogwarts. It wasn't a horrible amount of work, and he doubted that Molly would exactly _mind_ watching over yet another child during school hours. On the other hand, the bigger the wolf's pack was, the more strenuous his transformation was. The fact that he was locked up so far away from his family made him do crazy things to try to get closer to them.

"He didn't speak with me about a resignation."

"He likes teaching, and he doesn't want to stop, but it might become impossible. If he's not able to cope midterm, I'm not going to send the man to an early grave. Furthermore, what other options have we got? Hudson's on the list."

"The list?" Severus inquired. What list? What was she talking about?

"Never mind, Severus," she said hurriedly, trying to change the subject. "Point is, we'd be hardpressed to find a teacher midterm, and Hudson says his hours are flexible enough for him to b able to teach also without exerting too much effort."

"The man's on the Wizengamot, Minerva; he's not a children's Quidditch coach. Get Lupin a teaching assistant who will grade papers for him. We've been talking about implementing an apprenticeship program for months."

When teachers left (which Hogwarts teachers frequently did; it was a hard job, and the positions had a tendency to be cursed), it was a big hassle. Not only did everyone else have to help the new teacher, but they had to be trained all summer long. Even then, their performance was usually under par for the first year or so. It wasn't fair to the students. With an apprenticeship program, the teaching assistant could get first hand lecture and grading experience and take over when a position became available. Hogwarts could afford it; donations had been flowing in ever since the war ended.

"Who do you have in mind, Severus?" she questioned.

Damn her. Of course she knew that Severus hadn't thrown the idea out there without further thought.

"Hermione Granger has been most insufferable with her begging since she graduated," Severus replied, hoping that the conversation would cease there.

It wasn't his lucky day; Minerva stared at him suspiciously.

"Albus," her voice hiccupped slightly, but she composed herself almost immediately, "told me briefly about Hermione, but all I got were the… _logistics_ of the situation. I didn't get any of the particulars."

"I wish he could have told _me_ the logistics. I still don't know, because no one's told me. What did he tell her to do?" he questioned, glad the hallways were void of students. This wasn't a conversation that he wanted overheard.

"He left a letter for you, but he said to not give it to you until you asked for it," she answered, her face aging years.

Was this really the first time he'd asked? Surely not! He could remember his rage at 17. He could remember his anxiety at 30. He could remember his annoyance at 35. He could remember the angry conversations with Dumbledore. Surely he had asked him at one point exactly what his instructions were.

… or maybe, subconsciously, he didn't want to know all the details.

"Would you like it?" she asked, hesitantly.

Severus stoically stood, staring through her.

"We've to go to the meeting," he said, not answering her question. Instead, he entered his office and picked up what he needed.

When he was out, she was already gone, and Severus was left with his thoughts. For every question answered, another dozen questions popped up. He wondered what "list" Minerva had been talking about, wondering if it had to do with who could be trusted or who was eligible and capable of teaching. He wondered who authored said list and if it was something physical, like a document.

He also wondered why he didn't demand the letter. He wanted to know what he hadn't been able to figure out as a student. He wondered if Dumbledore's letter pertained only to that or if was some sort of "final note" for him. Either way, he knew that the man, however great he was, was _just_ childish enough to pull the "well you didn't ask!" stunt. On the other hand, he'd always wondered if Hermione would tell him that. She hadn't told him anything as a student. She hadn't told him where she was from, what she was doing, who she hung out with, etc. It still blew his mind that she had a friendship with Bade Hudson.

Was his head so far up his own arse that he couldn't see what her social life was like? Or was it a discreet friendship? After all, Hudson had been liked among students of all houses, and he was handsome enough to not be ostracized by Gryffindors the way most Slytherins had been. Who knew what other obvious things he'd missed out on.

Truthfully, he was scared of finding out something that would alter his opinion of her or of Dumbledore. He'd struggled with truth since his childhood, and he was still paranoid that finding out the truth about a situation often left him worse for wear. He hated naivety, but sometimes ignorance truly was bliss.

Severus Snape was a very cynical man, and he thrived on the little happiness he got. If he could put Hermione and Dumbledore on a pedestal, he'd do just that. He had, in fact, done that, and he wanted to keep it that way.

What Hudson's interest in teaching was, was not something Severus was terribly concerned over. The man wasn't petty enough to do it to annoy Severus. He possibly could have requested it out of boredom or some scheme that wasn't relevant to him.

Severus would ask him about it, but he doubted he would get a straight answer. Severus and Bade were, for all intents and purposes, what others would traditionally call 'best friends,' but it meant something very different to them. While Bade Hudson outwardly appeared as a friendly, handsome, social, copacetic heartthrob, there was still a reason that the sorting hat had put him in Slytherin. He and Severus were both private and guarded themselves.

They could speak the truth to each other, but they both had the mentality that not all truth was relevant but all truth _could_ be twisted and used. And if Bade was planning something, Severus doubted that he would be privy to that knowledge.

As Severus walked toward the Great Hall, he spotted Hudson outside with a newspaper. He decided that regardless of the information he'd be told, he had nothing to lose in asking.

"Bade," Severus called, waiting until the man put away the newspaper before he continued, "teaching?"

"I've my reasons; I'm sorry I didn't tell you I talked to Minerva about it. Not that it matters since I was defeated by you," he answered with a trace of a smile on his face.

Severus shrugged. "Nothing personal."

Hudson's smile grew, and he laughed heartily. "Sure, it's not. Put Hermione Jean up for a teaching fellowship, and it's got nothing to do with your relationship with her?"

Severus's frown grew. "It doesn't. We've been talking about this idea for quite a while now, and she'd be the perfect candidate to Defense, my biased opinion aside."

He'd make the argument that he wasn't biased, but he wouldn't win that one. Severus didn't like going into things where chances of victory were grim.

"Mmm," Bade said, distracted all of a sudden as he looked at his watch. "Time for the meeting to start. Shall we?"

Severus half expected him to put out his arm, but instead, he simply strolled through the doors, his robes gracefully fluttering behind him. As aggravated as Bade made him by dismissing his argument, he made himself stay calm. It was one thing to be passive aggressive, but Hudson had just blatantly dismissed him as if he were a child.

And that was why, even though Bade Hudson could be immature and spastic, he was still an evil bastard, just like him. Severus couldn't really be angry. He simply walked in after his friend and sat down across from him at the long staff table, hoping that the meeting would be over sooner rather than later.

Severus was lucky, and the meeting went smoothly, with Hudson absentmindedly reading over notes and interjecting with only helpful comments. At the end of the meeting, Hudson hurriedly left, but not before patting Severus's shoulder and sending everyone a smile that didn't meet his eyes. Severus was the only one who noticed.

When he did, Minerva brought up the idea of opening up Hogwarts for apprentices. To his surprise, there was no opposition. The professors unanimously thought it was a good idea, and he had to wonder why a program like this hadn't been brought up or implemented years ago. When Minerva suggested three slots (because of finances and everyone 'pitching in' to teach the young teacher), they climbed over each other to get one of the coveted spots.

Of course, there would surely be benefits to having an apprentice. The Professor wouldn't have to spend hours grading papers. He/she wouldn't have to teach lower years on a consistent basis and could focus more on his/her research. It wouldn't be easy training someone new, but with a capable apprentice, the rewards would far outweigh the nuisances.

With that in mind, everyone was seemingly surprised when Severus nominated himself to get an apprentice. They'd assumed he was a misanthrope, and he certainly was that, to some extent. However, he enjoyed his research, but he barely had time do any between Deputy Headmaster duties, teaching, and now helping Hermione. The right apprentice would _surely_ know better than to bother him, and in exchange, Severus would not make his/her life miserable. It was an even trade.

And Severus knew that people would be scrambling to come to Hogwarts, where some of the most capable wizards and witches in the world taught. It was a breeding ground of greatness. He didn't have a doubt in his mind that Hermione would apply for and receive the Defense apprenticeship with Lupin.

"I think that Severus and Remus have the most need," Minerva said, and although the other staff members had sour looks on their faces, they didn't say anything, still hoping that they would get the third spot. "I'll have to think about the third spot, and I'll put out a call for applications today."

Severus was going to head to the dungeons again when Lupin stopped him.

"I'm glad you decided for one as well. This is silly, but I felt like a lesser teacher, needing to skirt my duties," Remus said with a gentle voice and a smile to match.

"Are you implying that I want to skirt my duties?" Severus asked with a deadly voice.

"Heavens no!" Remus exclaimed. "You and I both have things which would take more hours in a day than we have to complete."

"Yes, well, it appears so," Severus said dryly and started to walk away from the man again.

"Severus," Remus called, the smile falling from his face a little before he regained it.

"Yes?"

"Careful," Remus warned with a smile, and he turned to walk away.

Severus didn't have to ask him what he meant nor would he. He would, indeed, be careful. Carelessness led to too many problems. And Severus hated problems and complications of any kind.


End file.
